The Guest List
Thursday April 20th, 2017 with Joe Reilly
Interviews with Ron Sexsmith, Dick Cooper of the Cooper Brothers and Rolf Klausener of the Acorn

Lots of great talk about fantastic music tonight on the show. First up we hear from Ron Sexsmith as he tells us about his brand new album The Last Rider and his upcoming show at the National Arts Centre on Saturday, April 29th. It is always a pleasure to catch up with Ron and talk to him about his music. We talk about how one of the most beautiful songs on the new album "Breakfast Ethereal" includes references to Ron's days as a soccer player in his youth and those images of winning championships stick with us all through our lives ... if we're lucky enough to do that. It's a beautiful song about getting older and looking back on simpler times. We also talk about how Ron's songs may explore elements of sadness, yet they almost always have a sense of hope and brightness to them and how he almost always has music and songs running through his head. We wrap up by talking about the production of the new album and how it was fun to go into the studio with his friends and bandmates to record for the first time in a long time as so many of Ron's albums have been recorded with great session musicians over the years. https://nac-cna.ca/en/event/14684 http://www.ronsexsmith.com/ Next up we check in with Dick Cooper of the Cooper Brothers. Back in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Ottawa's Cooper Brothers were at the top of the music world. The group had released 2 solid albums that had received critical acclaim, radio airplay and featured songs that were on the charts. Then problems with record companies took their toll on the band and they called it quits until around 2006 when a series of events brought Dick and his brother Brian back together to make new music. The Cooper Brothers are about to release their third album since 2010 and it's called Radio Silence. Dick Cooper talks to us about the band's history and some of the ideas behind some of the new songs on the new album. You can catch the Cooper Brothers live at Centrepointe Theatre on Friday, April 28th. http://cooperbrothersband.com/ Finally we check in with Rolf Klausener of the Acorn about a very special show this Saturday night (April 22) at St. Alban's Church. At that show Rolf and a super-sized edition of the Acorn will be performing the wonderful 2007 album Glory Hope Mountain from start to finish. Rolf talks about the original impetus of the album to capture his Mother's story as a Honduran refugee who made her way to Canada and about how the album is being re-released this year by Paper Bag Records as a special remastered disc and vinyl release. He also talks about how the themes that he explored 10 years ago on that album felt very personal at the time but almost feel universal now when he reflects on what is going on around the world. Expect a very special show on Saturday night with lots of guest musicians and singers on stage. Don't miss this one! http://www.theacorn.ca/ Get out and see some live music this week.